Best New-to-Me: June 2024/Junesploitation

The Twin Cities in Summertime is traditionally accompanied by an absolute onslaught of activities as we all try to squeeze every last ounce of fun out of the daylit months before the shroud of winter darkness descends. This trend doesn't necessarily lend itself to movie-watching but I have also been participating in the F This Movie! Junesploitation challenge for a few years now - partially because it's fun and partially to keep my movie watching going while I'm otherwise biking around, going to outdoor events, and living part-time on patios throughout the city. This year I wasn't totally successful with my challenge list but I still watched a ton of great stuff that I may not have gotten around to otherwise. I also made it out to the theater a fair amount - though mostly for repertory screenings. I was feeling a little burnout towards the end of the month and found myself doing a lot of re-watches for some other writing I've been thinking about. Hopefully I'll have a chance to move that project forward over the holiday weekend. However, this post is for new-to-me movies and I think these are some great ones so check it out.

Hong Kong Godfather (1985) - Later Shaw Bros Triad rager that features the kinetic ferocity of 80s HK action cinema combined with the chaotic nihilism that reminds me more of 70s yakuza films. The narrative isn't what I'd describe as electric but it hardly matters when the action is this frenetic. The well worn honor code tropes recede to the background amidst a whirlwind of brutal machete fights, hacked off limbs, backbreakers delivered to children, animal attacks, and a gruesome and classically 80s mall showdown climax. While the focus is certainly on mayhem, there are some solid performances here as well. Bryan Leung manages to impart some believability as a reformed hit man who can only be pushed so far and it's a real treat to see Shih Kin (Enter the Dragon) as an aging gang boss who still has some moves.

Money Movers (1978) - Ferociously violent Ozploitation heist flick from Bruce Beresford. It features a young Bryan Brown but it truly is an ensemble piece with somewhat disparate storylines circling each other in a slow boil until they collide in an explosive finale. The opening robbery sets a grim tone when one of the thieves unloads a full shotgun blast into an unfortunate armored car driver. The action slows to a simmer as the plot reveals players on all sides of the armored transport world - inside men plotting the next job, corrupt cops playing the angles, and local mob looking to muscle in on the action. There are also a couple honest men just trying to do their job. Once things pick up again, they are delivered in resolutely hardboiled, take no prisoners fashion that I found irresistible. This one absolutely deserves more attention as a classic of gritty, 70s crime cinema.

Act of Vengeance/Rape Squad (1974) - There's no getting around that this is very much an exploitation picture in a very classically American International Pictures kind of way. There are some harrowing scenes of humiliation and degradation and no shortage of nudity even in the film's lighter moments. However, Act of Vengeance also manages to portray the female protagonists with some genuine empathy and at least some understanding of the institutional misogyny they face. The main thrust of the film is a group of women who form a "rape squad" after encountering the indifference and incompetence of traditional law enforcement. It's a B picture to be certain but it's all done very competently and professionally and the lead actors are totally charismatic and interesting to watch. There are several uncomfortable sequences but there are also a series of great ones as the now-vigilantes beat and terrorize obscene phone callers, would-be date rapists, and even an abusive pimp.

Street Girls (1975) -  Street Girls is a tale of sex and addiction shot almost exclusively on the streets and in the strip clubs of Eugene, Oregon in the 70s. Predating Schrader's Hardcore by a few years, Girls is the story of a concerned father who goes looking for his daughter after she disappears from school. What he uncovers is a world of go-go dancing, prostitution, lesbianism(!), and drugs. It would be a stretch to say the filmmakers (director Michael Miller and an early writing credit for Barry Levinson) handle this with sensitivity but they do attempt to reveal the harsh, sexist world that has been set into motion and they don't seem eager to cast judgement around the sex workers themselves. Queerness is displayed as a kind of oddity in the film but again, those characters aren't necessarily judged as perverse or bad in any way. There's a nearly documentarian lens via Eugene, the strip bars, and it's denizens are being examined. This could be off-putting to some but it's hard for me to resist such a distinctly individual document. I'd love to know more about this production one day.

Family Honor (1973) - Zero budget, hyper-regional crime drama that manages to turn a lack of resources into a palpable atmosphere of authenticity. The basic framework of the plot is a cop being pressured by his family to take revenge on the gangsters who killed his father. However, Family Honor tends to meander through the grimy streets and the characters who populate it's grainy, 16mm world. The onscreen action tends to be brief (though intensely visceral at times) and the film is more focused on tense and sometimes bizarre interactions between all of these New York faces - many of whom only ever had a credit or two. In a uniquely weird turn, blues rocker Leslie West (Mountain) features prominently as a improbably eccentric mafia goon decked out in what must have been his own custom boots and ruffled collars. Maybe not an all-timer crime picture, but absolutely a must watch for fans of scrappy filmmaking and cinematic time capsules.

War Dog (1987) - Positively bonkers dadsploitation action film from Sweden. Ostensibly set in an America where guns are as pervasive as Coca-Cola, it's the story of some kind of super-soldier program gone rogue but that's barely comprehensible in the onslaught of gruesome action that rarely lets up. Bloody squibs erupt left and right, even children are annihilated, and a corpse is hurled down a water slide. This must be absolutely insane to watch with and audience and I have to tip my hat to Erica of Unsung Horrors/The Sweetest Taboo for turning me onto this one.

A Gun for Jennifer (1987) - Another rape/revenge flick by way of 90s NYC instead of 70s California. I was expecting some Sarah Jacobson style punk-fueled indie fury and Jennifer absolutely delivers on that front. What surprised me was how compelling the crime/police procedural elements were, the unflinching gore, and how the on-screen violence is exclusively inflicted on abusive men while any sexual violence is largely implied. My love of NYC films is largely driven by the quality of filmmakers and performers as well as location footage in America's largest film set. Jennifer uses a lot of interior shots but there are still some outstanding (probably guerilla) shots of nighttime streets, Port Authority, and Grand Central. The actors are uniformly solid and especially notable is veteran character actor and long time Spike Lee regular Arthur Nascarella who brings some gravitas as a gruff police lieutenant. The 90s vibes are strong in this one with a lot of sex work-positive feminism, riot grrl soundtrack, and even a Tribe-8 performance that provides a powerful bonding moment for the women involved. I would have been totally satisfied with a scrappy, grimy snapshot of 90s NYC but I think there's a lot to admire with this one.

Bloody Mama (1970) - One of Roger Corman's (RIP) last directorial efforts and a solid one at that. This is undoubtedly meant to cash in on post Bonnie and Clyde interest in American outlaws but happens to feature an absolute barn burner of a performance by Shelley Winters as Ma Barker. Corman underscores the Barker mythos with psychosexual undercurrents and nods towards incest and Winters evokes a complicated portrait of the character. At times vulnerable but flies instantly into wild eyed rages when she feels her boys are threatened. This emotional chaos gives way to commanding professional coolness when Barker has to pull a bank job or dispatch unwanted witnesses. It's Winters' picture through and through but there are some great early performances from Bruce Dern and Robert De Niro as well. I was especially happy to see Pat Hingle who plays a wealthy patriarch the gang captures for blackmail and manages to insinuate himself into their lives before the end. Just as a weird aside, Winters played a comedic version of the Ma Barker character some years earlier on the Batman television show and (at least for people of my generation) Pat Hingle is most recognizable as Commissioner Gordon from Burton's caped crusader films. 

Theatrical Screenings!

Early in the month following a less than outstanding Memorial Day Weekend box office turnout, we heard a lot about the death of movie theaters. Then within a couple of weeks we heard that actually, they aren't so dead, that people were turning out in droves for other movies, and the so-called "flops" actually did okay. I don't know what to make of this other than a) studios are bad a predicting which titles will pop, b) their projected numbers for "success" are borderline idiotic, and c) the pundits enthusiastically pointing out the death of the theater aren't going themselves. When I attended a Monday night screening of The Hunger, not only was there a great turnout for a nearly 40 year old movie - the place was absolutely packed with people eager to see the latest Bad Boys installment. Tim, who programs Cinema of the Macabre, has been noting that the Tape Freaks series that he co-curates has been selling out weeks in advance. I think there's still palpable desire to see movies at theaters (or other spaces offering the cinematic experience) and I don't think for a minute it's limited to one kind of film or one generation of movie-goers. Maybe it's the old punk in me but you are your local cinema scene. We have a fantastic cinema scene in the Twin Cities and it is completely due to the hardworking folks that make it happen. Places like New York or Austin or even Paris have such entrenched film cultures that it's easy to forget how critical independent film societies were to establishing them. If you live remotely near cool theaters that are doing cool programming, you should support them. If there's nothing like that where you live, look into what kind of options there could be for a film club or a screening series. Participation is key and it could be as easy as buying a ticket.

The Hunger (1983) - I've always liked The Hunger even if I'm not as devoted as its most ardent fans. It's cliche to say that it's all about "vibes" but it is definitely a lot about aesthetics. I have to say I found it 1000% more engaging in a theatrical setting. The music and the visuals were so much more riveting to me and my brain was drawing all kinds of weird parallels between it, Ridley Scott's work, HK cinema motifs (probably borrowed to some extent from the brothers Scott), and even batshit Italian horror movies. The cast couldn't be cooler and the opening club scene with Bahaus booming through the speakers will still be the epitome of 80s goth glamour. 

Household Saints (1993) - I have become such a massive fan of Nancy Savoca's Dogfight and I was totally thrilled to hear her following film had gotten a restoration. I admit I wasn't as taken with this film, but it's still such an absolute joy to see such an ambitious 90s indie finding a new audience. The multi-generational New York immigrant story feels very genuine and the cast is excellent - Vincent D'Onofrio, Tracey Ullman, and Lli Taylor especially but also a great supporting role from Michael Imperioli. I was bowled over to learn that this was shot in North Carolina and somewhat crushed to learn that the "Kalina Cinema" where Taylor and Imperioli see Last Year at Marienbad was not a real place.

Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) - This screened at the Walker Art Center as part of a series their programming in conjunction with their Keith Haring exhibition (beyond  highly recommended for anyone in the area). I've only seen Laura Mars once before and recall it not having the strongest plot in the world - that's correct but it's nearly impossible to care with the cast, the music, the locations, and the fever pitch thriller action that plays out. Again, this worked so much better for me in the theater and I have had Michael Zager's "Let's All Chant" stuck in my head ever since this viewing. I'm not going to enter the fray over whether this is an American giallo or not, but suffice to say it is late 70s perfection pulsing with cocaine and fashion and garbage lined city streets. Certainly well within the spirit of the genre.

Robot Dreams (2023) - I knew very little about this other than thinking the trailer looked charming enough to check out. I had no idea this would be such a New York movie or that it would be such a movie lovers movie. Robot Dreams is free from dialogue and takes place in an alternate 1984 NYC that is populated with anthropomorphized animals. The technology level is as you would expect except that companion robots are available for purchase. The dog protagonist buys such a robot to ease his loneliness and the two form a close bond. They are driven apart due to circumstances beyond their control and the rest of the film plays out like vignettes of their lives while separated and their attempts to reunite. There are a ton of film references throughout this - The Apartment, Psycho, Busby Berkeley musicals, The Wizard of Oz, etc. There are also some amazing cultural and musical references that are a lot of fun. Earth, Wind, and Fire managed to dislodge Michael Zager from my brain briefly after seeing this one. Very sweet, but hardly saccharine. I'm going to guess this is better than the new Pixar movie.

Best New-to-Me: May 2024

 Another whirlwind month behind us as we begin the Summertime in earnest. Some of my movie-watching has waned in favor of bike rides, patio hangs, and other outdoors pursuits - however, I still have a lot of screenings to talk about. I don't have anything new to plug but I was welcomed in to the Minnesota Film Critics Alliance this past month. The Alliance includes some terrific critics and writers and I'm excited to be included. Hopefully I can learn a thing or two from them. I am generally too obstinate to stick to many movie "theme" challenges but I have been doing the F This Movie! Junesploitation challenge for a few years now. 30 days, 30 different prompts, hopefully 30 movies of genre insanity. If you've never tried it and are vaguely interested, I find it to be a fun way to knock out some of those persistent watchlist barnacles as well as pushing myself in some different directions. Unlike horror or noir challenges, I appreciate the variety of different exploitation genres and the spirit of inclusiveness among the participants. Hop around the schedule if you want, change your movie selections, maybe you only watch five Junesploitation movies, however you do it works. I'll do a full roundup at the end of the month but you can check out my (tentative) list of selections here.

China Girl (1987) - Abel Ferrara's take on Romeo and Juliet set on the border between Manhattan's China Town and Little Italy. This had been on my watchlist for a long time but a recent visit to the area prompted me to finally sit down for it. I assumed Ferrara would deliver a grittier, NYC location based production but in actuality it's a much more stylized, set bound film. While there's still a bit of Ferrara chaos bubbling underneath the sleek veneer - China Girl feels almost like a music video in its precise shot composition and overall mood. This suits the attractive if somewhat vapid lead performers well enough but I can understand not all audiences connecting with it. There are some solid supporting turns from Minneapolis born James Hong and a young David Caruso which bolster the drama a bit. Also, when the inevitable violence kicks in it is palpably visceral. Maybe one more for Ferrara completists or 80s NYC maniacs but definitely worth a look.

Street of the Damned (1984) - Another film from Fun City Editions' Seeing Red set I received in April. I really need to re-visit this one to more firmly cohere my thoughts on it, but it's a fascinating watch. Though there's nothing explicitly said about when the film is set, it strikes an out-of-time mood that reminds me of other weirdo 80s street life films like (also released by FCE) Alphabet City. The otherworldliness in only exacerbated by the Paris suburb where it is set - something I've seen utilized well by Alain Jessua and even Claude Chabrol. The plotline is essentially a lone streetfighter standing up against the local toughs but Bernard Giraudeau's Chet isn't exactly a good guy and the film leans as much into existential drama as it does junkyard brawling. I keep mentioning the strangeness of it, and it is that, but I think it has the potential to join the ranks of cult classic, vaguely post-apocalyptic, counter-culture films from around the same time. 

Black List (1984) -  The final film for me in the Seeing Red set and what a way to wrap things up. A heist gone sour draws in a widowed auto-repair shop owner played by Annie Girardot in an attempt to reunite with her estranged daughter. I don't want to reveal too many details, but suffice to say I did not know how badly I needed a hard driving, ruthless Annie Girardot in my life before watching Black List. Perhaps even more impressive to me is that she manages to imbue the standard angel of vengeance style role with a genuine and heartfelt emotional core. This film looks tremendous and it really moves, too. I'm hoping to write an extended review of all three films in the set. Highest recommendation.

The Lineup (1958) - Erica from Unsung Horrors recommended this to me ages ago because it contains a fantastic dummy drop and it's just a damn good 50s noir. Don Siegel is at the helm for this one and he puts together a ripping crime story with economy but his direction is never austere. The attraction for a lot of viewers is going to be the absolutely fantastic San Francisco location work that includes the former Sutro Baths. It doesn't hurt that it was shot by absolute film legend Hal Mohr who demonstrates an agility with his camera even later into his career. Eli Wallach smolders as a psychopathic bag man who goes by the name of Dancer, but his performance is beautifully complimented by Robert Keith who plays his comparatively reserved partner in crime. This one is under 90s minutes and there's a gorgeous looking transfer on Prime at the moment. Easy recommendation for classic crime fans.

The Jericho Mile (1979) - Michael Mann's first directorial effort is primarily a prison drama but it is one embedded in the structure of an underdog sports movie. Peter Strauss plays a convicted killer who notably is doing his own time not only in eschewing most prison affiliations but also committing to an unrelenting schedule of daily running. I have a real weakness for these 70s/80s convict narratives - they can feel somewhat naive compared to the explicit grimness of later films and true crime documentaries - but Jericho Mile as well as movies like Short Eyes and even Straight Time were all written by ex-cons and have their own sense of authenticity. Further emphasizing that authenticity was Mann's decision to shoot almost entirely on location at Folsom Prison. Jericho Mile employs some terrific supporting actors like Roger Mosley, Brian Dennehy, and Ed Lauter but also makes tremendous use of non-actors to fill the prison with interesting, believable characters. Like many television productions of its time, Jericho Mile is expertly shot and produced even though I don't know that it nods towards the cooler-than-cool stylization that Mann would be so well known for. What is clear is his respect for lived experience and his willingness to work with people outside of Hollywood to find that core of reality.

Darker Than Amber (1970) - I have been wanting to watch this Robert Clouse adaptation of a John D. MacDonald Travis McGee story for ages but have been holding out for a better looking copy then the taped-off-tv versions I was able to find. I finally caved when it popped up on Tubi - it's still definitely a vhs rip but at least it was subtitled so I could work with the murky sound. MacDonald's most famous creation has the air of a 1960s mens' magazine fantasy - intermittently employed McGee lives on his boat in Florida where he takes up fishing, drinking, beautiful women, and the occasional adventure. He's not James Bond but he isn't some Chandler-ian hard luck case either. Rod Taylor's imposing physicality and Aussie charm serve the character perfectly and he's equally believable lounging on his boat or in the middle of a fistfight. Suzy Kendall - bond girl and giallo regular - makes for a compelling femme fatale that McGee literally pulls out of the water as the entry to the film's central mystery. Clouse's production plays out like a particularly good television movie with the exception that some of the violence feels extreme for 1970. Apparently Taylor and bad guy bodybuilder William Smith genuinely got into it during their climactic brawl - this bit of screen brutality caught the eye of Bruce Lee who then pursued Clouse to direct Enter the Dragon. Darker Than Amber failed to catch fire at the box office and it's really too bad. I would have loved to see a series of these even as a television productions like the Columbo or Kojak movies.

Yakuza Wolf: I Perform Murder (1972) - Arguably my pick for best titled film of anything I watched in May, Yakuza Wolf  presents another point in the East influences West influences East cycle as it takes stylistic and plot elements from Spaghetti Western films, which were of course famously influenced by Samurai films, and transposes them into a Yakuza film. Sonny Chiba stars as a vengeance seeking man-in-black replete with duster and broad brimmed hat looking to take on multiple yakuza clans. My favorite Chiba roles tend to find him raging and brutal or gregarious and charming and his character here is much more in line with the grim, taciturn protagonists of Leone or Corbucci. Exchanging a horse and a Winchester for a Ford Mustang and a silenced automatic handgun, Chiba's Gosuke Himuro pursues his aim first with a Yojimbo/Dollars style gambit of pitting two sides against each other and then morphing towards a desperate mission of vengeance that recalls the finale of Django. This first entry of Yakuza Wolf is a properly gruesome and sleazy slice of 70s Yakuza film which pairs well with its Italian inspiration as they pushed genre boundaries forcefully as well. There is a follow up movie that has almost nothing to do with this one save that Sonny Chiba is in it and yakuza are involved but I found it far less interesting.

I... For Icarus (1979) - A big budget Henri Verneuil political thriller that also serves up a heady blend of 70s paranoia goodness. Very much inspired by JFKs assassination featuring Yves Montand as the attorney who is tirelessly pursuing the truth underneath layers of conspiracy. Per usual, Verneuil delivers a gorgeously produced film that includes some solid location work to go along with his typically astounding sets. He collaborates once again with Ennio Morricone as a composer even if music is rather sparsely employed in the film, but it's a terrific theme when it does kick in. Verneuil plays a bit with themes around media - television appearances, interrogation recordings, an analogue of the Zapruder film - but the main appeal is this tense conspiracy as the body count climbs higher.

Réjeanne Padovani (1973) - This is the third film released by Canadian International Pictures in what forms a loose trilogy of crime movies from Denys Arcand's early career. Chronologically Réjeanne Padovani is actually the middle film between the darkly absurd Dirty Money and the thrilling and brutal Gina. By comparison Réjeanne is the far more reserved of the three - focusing squarely on spoken interactions - dinner conversations, backroom negotiations, telephone calls, and bar small talk. Still, it paints a convincing picture of how business, politics, and crime forms an ugly alliance in Montreal. Though Réjeanne is very much a product of the 70s, it was only in 2011 that the Charbonneau Commission was formed in Quebec to investigate corruption as well as organized crime connections into the management of public construction contracts. Réjeanne may be more compelling as a cultural document and less so as an entertainment compared to Arcand's other early films but it does make for a fascinating snapshot in time and credit's Arcand's prescience regarding social issues.

Intrépidos Punks (1983) - I imagine some people will be able to decide immediately whether this movie is for them by reading the brief and totally accurate plot description on Letterboxd. I think I could say something like "Tarzan, the leader of a satanic punk rock biker gang (played by luchador El Fantasma) pile drives some poor chump in the middle of a brawl" and that might be enough for you to add this to your watchlist. Outrageous doesn't really begin to cover a film like Intrépidos Punks, it is strange, anarchic, offensive, and I'm totally taken with it. The Punks are a marauding biker gang who are mostly interested in drugs, violence, sex, and sexual violence. A key scene involves them capturing the wives of the men who run the prison were Tarzan is being kept so that they can ransom his freedom. Remembering the cruelty inflicted upon them in prison, they decide to ravage the women and suddenly the band that plays the Intrépidos Punks theme song appears to provide a soundtrack to the assault. For all of the insane moments sprinkled throughout the film, it also features a lot of hanging out with the punks. It reminded me in some ways of Stone however where you learn to sympathize with the Grave Diggers motorcycle club - the Punks are beyond understanding or redemption. Justice does arrive in the form of three mustachioed detectives who managed to imprison Tarzan previously. They are largely indistinguishable though Detective Marcos features prominently in the sequel. You can find grimy streaming copies of this with or without subtitles but I imagine most viewers will be better off waiting for the Vinegar Syndrome release announced for later this year. 

Revenge of the Punks (1991) -  Picking up right where the last movie left off, Revenge starts with a prison break for Tarzan who has only one thing on his mind - revenge. Vengeance takes form of the punks riding to Detective Marcos' daughter's birthday party where they proceed to rape and kill everyone in attendance save for Marcos. That's certainly one way to open a movie. The film then transitions to Cannon Death Wish territory as Marcos does his best Bronson - singling out gang members and dispatching them in increasingly elaborate ways: Impalement, snakes, fire, and acid are only a few. While the premise is certainly as wild as Intrépidos Punks and it still contains enough bare breasts for a Russ Meyer film, Revenge feels less goofily chaotic and more viscerally violent. Gone are the pro-wrestling fight moves and punk dancing montages. They've been replaced with satanic rites featuring real animal parts and Marcos' grim string of violent killings. I still liked the sequel a great deal but it is perhaps less "fun" than the previous film if this kind of thing fits your definition of fun to begin with. Weirdly, I stumbled across these not because of the forthcoming VS release but because they were on a list of Mad Max rip-offs. I would not really call these Maxploitation but if you like the especially wild films in the biker genre, these should definitely be on your radar.

Theatrical Screenings!

T.R. Baskin (1971)- Baskin was one of my favorite new-to-me picks last year so I was thrilled to be able to catch it at the Trylon. My admiration for the film and Bergen's and Boyle's performances haven't diminished a bit and the theatrical presentation made it easier for me to appreciate the sound design. It's a detail that not every movie captures and the constant din of traffic noises and city sounds really does underscore Baskin's isolation. Another thing I've been thinking about in regards to Baskin is Carnal Knowledge which came out the same year and also features Bergen. I don't know many who love Carnal Knowledge but it certainly was the more acclaimed of the two pictures and arguably has persisted in the culture more prominently - it's a bigger film with a wild cast. The films take on different subjects but there is some overlap in themes of self-discovery and forming relationships. It's striking at how Baskin is certainly skeptical of modern life and relationships but ultimately a far more nuanced portrait of human existence wherein Knowledge is so deeply cynical and ultimately kind of cruel.

Evil Does Not Exist (2023) -  I feel like I'll have to give this another watch one day considering the enthusiastic praise it has gotten from so many people. I thought it was beautifully made but perhaps I'm resisting the parable elements of Evil Does Not Exist as I found its messaging a little flat. I'm totally sympathetic to a film about the stupidity of corporations and our obliviousness to the environmental harm we're all complicit in, but I think I was struggling with the portrayal of a village that has a perfect understanding of that. I've lived in small towns - stupidity and obliviousness are universal conditions, not limited to urban dwellers. I've also attended my fair share of public hearings and the opinions expressed during those are rarely as wise and artful as the briefing featured in the film (though it's a excellently constructed scene). The premise of Evil Does Not Exist immediately reminded me of Shunya Ito's Curse of the Dog God from 1977. They are very different films, but Ito (and I can't believe I'm saying this) seems to have a much more nuanced perception of the urban/rural divide in Japan. Still, Hamaguchi's film is gorgeous with a tremendous score and some excellent sequences.

1980s Action Extravaganza - I wasn't sure what I'd be getting into with the Trylon's first ever 80s Action mini-marathon. Four surprise films (3 on 35mm) which could have been total fan favorites or the deepest of deep cuts. I liked that it was only four films and that it wasn't overnight so when I saw there were still tickets available online, I scooped them up. It turned out to be a good time and the Trylon's years of running the much more challenging overnight Horrorthon every year were very much in evidence as this little fest ran super smoothly. The absolute standout for me was John Woo's The Killer shown in 35mm. It's a movie I watched dozens of times as a young man but haven't watched in a while - largely due to its absence on streaming or an officially sanctioned blu ray release. My one gripe about the films were that they were all things I'd seen before and largely things I'd seen many, many times before. The trailers shown between the films had me more excited than some of the actual selections. Still, it was fun to be there and who knows if I'll have the opportunity to do another one.

Enter the Clones of Bruce (2023) and The Clones of Bruce Lee (1980) - This was an inspired bit of programming by Tim Holly over at Emagine Willow Creek featuring David Gregory's new Brucesploitation documentary followed by a classic Brucesploitation feature. Weirdly, I was attending another screening in NYC last year during the Tribeca Film Fest when Enter the Clones was making its debut. I recall walking by the poster and wondering if I had really missed out. Luckily Tim had our backs and brought this weird slice of film history to our doorsteps. It's a solid doc. and is especially interesting when it leans into stories of Hong Kong film production of the 70s and 80s. I'm not sure it has enough narrative thrust to appeal to the uninitiated as I found my attention wandering at parts, but I'm so glad to have caught it. Clones of Bruce Lee isn't a great kung-fu movie but it is positively bonkers and absolutely the kind of thing I prefer seeing with an audience. I don't think I'm the target market for Severin's Bruceploitation box set but I'm glad it exists and that I got to catch a taste of it.

WarGames (1983) - This was a member screening for the Cult Film Collective. I don't know that WarGames would have been my first choice for a screening but there is something special about watching it on 16mm in a wood paneled side room of an Eagles' Lodge. It's still an entertaining movie and I give the venue 1000/10. Would do again in a heartbeat.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) - I am not the biggest Fury Road enthusiast - I didn't love it when it came out and I haven't watched it since the theater - so I did not approach Furiosa with high expectations. I guess those expectations were met? I thought this was okay. It was definitely too long and I was fairly bored at parts. I don't think Miller really handles narrative or character very well and I struggle with his modern aesthetic sensibilities. Why spend 78 days shooting practical effects for a single sequence and then cover it in 10k layers of digital fuckery? I just don't get it. Anyway, don't listen to me, enjoy what you enjoy, I'll be over here watching Intrépidos Punks.

  

Best New to Me: April 2024

 April absolutely flew by and I'm still coming to terms that it is May and that the year will be halfway through in a month. I did not watch a ton of movies last month but I did get out to several screenings and still have plenty to talk about. For those of you who still enjoy print, I had the privilege to contribute to volume 2 of Klon Waldrip's Ghastly Horror Society Compendium zines. Klon's a great artist and writer and he does such a terrific job with these. The contributors he gets are wildly talented and I'm lucky to be included. I wrote a piece on Truck Turner but I highly recommend you just snag both volumes (you should just buy all of Klon's zines to be perfectly honest). I made no contribution other than pre-ordering Erica Schultz' book, The Sweetest Taboo: An Unapologetic Guide to Child Kills in Film, but I also highly recommend snagging a copy of that before they're all gone. She and Hauntlove and all of her co-conspirators put something really special together. Follow her @Hexmassacre on IG or Twitter for the most up-to-date info on availability. That's all my plugging for now, let's talk about movies.

Rich Kids (1979) - Another winning entry in the late 70s/early 80s divorce film genre. I believe this was Trini Alvarado's film debut and the start of a series of NYC focused coming-of-age films for her that included Times Square and Dreams Don't Die. Both Alvarado and her co-star, Jeremy Levy, account well for themselves and the focus on the kids' experience as well as the city scape lend this a similar quality to Jeremy (though the protagonists' ages result in a more innocent story). The adults, including Kathryn Walker and John Lithgow, are also quite good and manage to deliver a series of believably flawed though well-intentioned individuals who are navigating life as best as they can (though they all have piles of money). I'd be curious to know what motivated Robert M. Young to move from a prison film (Short Eyes) or an immigrant story (Alambrista!) to a domestic drama on the Upper West Side but while I don't think this rises to the heights of An Unmarried Woman, it's still excellently realized.

Handgun/Deep in the Heart (1983) - This is another absolutely fabulous discovery (for me) thanks to Fun City Editions and the aforementioned Erica who has been singing its praises for a while now. Karen Young plays a young teacher from the East Coast who relocates to Texas for work. She's pretty and well-liked but experiences a bit of culture-shock which is further exacerbated by several dates with a local would-be alpha male named Larry (Clayton Day). Young's Kathleen enjoys Larry's company well enough though she pauses at his fascination with firearms and his litany of conservative talking points. Things get genuinely ugly when Larry decides it's time to become more intimate despite Kathleen's protestations. Kathleen seeks help from the authorities but is ultimately driven to immerse herself in the gun culture so embraced by Larry and the surrounding community. This isn't as exploitative as it may sound and its narrative twists distinguish it from other rape/revenge stories - the result is something closer to a deep character study. Directed by Englishman Tony Garnett, Handgun brings a critical outsider's perspective at what passes for normal in many places in the US. Most importantly, Garnett seems to have been granted inside access to real locations and non-actors including local high schools and gun shops. This isn't meant to ridicule or even satirize as much as it feels like documentation of a society (perhaps betraying his frequent collaboration with Ken Loach). This is a tremendous piece of regional based filmmaking and hits every bit as hard today as it must have in the 80s. I haven't yet had a chance to listen to the commentary with Erica and Chris O'Neil but I can't wait to learn more about this one.

The Outside Man (1972) - Another case of Europeans traveling to the US and bringing an outside perspective to a uniquely American milieu. I've heard a variety of stories about the origin of this Jacques Deray L.A. crime/conspiracy movie but it does resemble a mood piece more than a strict thriller. Jean-Louis Trintignant plays a hired gun and Roy Scheider is cast as the man looking to clean things up after Trintignant wipes out a local crime boss. It's a cat and mouse pursuit throughout L.A. with Trintignant truly evoking the outsider in a world of go-go dancers, cruising down the strip, roller derby tournaments, and sun-kissed elites. I can understand this not being quite propulsive enough to sway the hardboiled crime fanatics but I was really taken with it. I have a deep affection for Deray's willingness to let things play out and not over-explain every last detail. I'll definitely be curious to know more about the production especially in the wake of The French Connection which came out the previous year. 

The Assassination/The French Conspiracy (1972) - Yves Boisset directed political thriller with an absolutely insane cast including Trintignant, Scheider (briefly), Michel Piccoli, Gian Maria Volonte, Michel Bouquet, Philippe Noiret, and Jean Seberg just to name a few. Assassination sounds better on paper than it is in execution - it runs a little long and yet the details can be a bit fuzzy if you're not familiar with the case in which it is based on. Still, I found it to be a totally worthwhile addition to Boisset's politically charged films - it is very much rooted in his critique of power and corruption. Undoubtedly this was meant to be a large prestige picture but doesn't quite hit the mark. I still enjoyed watching this absolute powerhouse of a cast and the Z like story of political machinations and the media courtesy of screenwriter Jorge Semprun.

Save the Tiger (1972) - Jack Lemmon's total showstopper of a performance as a garment industry hustler who has extended himself to the breaking point is reason enough to seek this out. The fact that it's also well directed by John G. Avildsen (still coming off of the scorching Joe and a few years before Rocky would change his career significantly) and the supporting cast is excellent doesn't hurt one bit. I had put this one off for ages for reasons I can't entirely remember but I'm happy to have finally gotten here. This is a touch theatrical but I like it when Lemmon leans into his stage persona and the performances are just too good to care.

Graveyard of Honor (1975) - Another brutal, nihilistic slice of Yakuza legend from the man himself, Kinji Fukasaku. This is based on the life of Rikio Ishikawa and told in a pseudo-documentary style which I think does some work grounding the piece. Tesuya Watari's Rikio is such an insanely self-immolating force of nature that it's helpful to know this is rooted in reality to an extent. One thing I found odd is that the early film testimonies from his friends and neighbors all mention how smart he is and then he doesn't do a single smart thing for the duration of the film. Still, he's totally mesmerizing in that way that Fukasaku anti-heroes tend to be. Not my favorite of his films but still damn good.

California Suite (1978) - I went to a production of Neil Simon's I Ought to be in Pictures while I was in NYC and this had led to a bit of catching up with film adaptations of Simon's plays. I have to wonder how this film would feel if it maintained Simon's original vignette structure instead of trying to overlap the different stories. I totally admire Herbert Ross' attempt to make a cohesive narrative out of the stories but I found myself resisting the transition between something as (brilliantly) acerbic as Fonda's performance, the bittersweet melodrama of Caine and Smith, and the slapstick violence of the Pryor/Cosby story. I also nearly forgot that Matthau was in the movie though once his story picks up with Elaine May it's quite good. Probably not where I would start with Simon adaptations, but with a cast this stacked, the time period, and the source material, it's very much my kind of movie.

Shot Pattern (1982) - The first of three movies collected in Fun City Editions' recent Seeing Red - 3 French Vigilante Thrillers set. Gerard Lanvin (who I watched in Exterior Night in March) stars as a flea market dealer who has his life upended when his girlfriend (Veronique Jannot who I watched in French Postcards in February) is attacked and killed on a train. Jean-Claude Missiaen was not a prolific director and isn't terribly well known in the US, but the talent involved in the making the film all feature prominently in movies I've loved and written about previously. Apparently this project was driven forward to an extent by director/cinematographer Pierre-William Glenn (LouLou, Serie Noire, Coup De Torchon), it was co-written by Claude Veillot (The Cop, Le Juge Fayard), and edited by Armand Psenny (Round Midnight, Watchmaker of St. Paul). You wouldn't be remiss expecting French Death Wish after reading the synopsis but Shot Pattern delivers a much different experience in its execution. Editing and jumping back and forth through time play a significant role in the story-telling. Rather than opening with a simplistic, heartwarming scene between the two leads interrupted by tragedy and resulting in hard-nosed vengeance - the film flashbacks continuously to their lives and establishes a much more substantial relationship between the two. Revenge is generally an easy thing for an audience to relate to which makes it such a well-used trope in filmmaking, but in Shot Pattern Missiaen doesn't take the audience's sympathies for granted. He takes the time to build out real characters so that we have a full understanding of the tragedy that has taken place. Another notable difference between Shot Pattern and its contemporaries is that the police (led by the incomparable Michel Constatin) are actually doing their job and doing it rather well. It's a sharp contrast to the either overwhelmed or apathetic authorities as featured in dozens of other vigilante films. These elements along with some plot beats that challenge the typical revenge narrative result in a film that is both satisfying as a thriller and has heartfelt emotional impact regarding how violence can shape our lives. Also, I was impressed with the portrayal of the "thugs" (including a young Dominique Pinon) who were potently believable in their depravity. This is another killer set from FCE and one I'll have to write at length about once I've devoured all three films.

Theatrical Screenings!

Samurai Reincarnation (1981) - My expectations for Samurai Reincarnation were through the roof the first time I put it on and how could they not be? Kinji Fukusaku directing a supernaturally tinged chanbara flick with Sonny Freaking Chiba as Jubei Yagyu facing a series of demonic martial artists including Tomisaburô Wakayama and Ken Ogata as an undead Musashi Miyamoto! What I found myself watching was in many ways much stranger and less satisfying. Fukasaku's economic storytelling and hyperkinetic delivery were out the window and instead exposition is achieved through a series of monologues and flashbacks which still seem insufficient to tie all of the various threads swirling around Reincarnation together. It seemed slow and the dogshit transfer I watched with bad cropping and subtitles wasn't doing it any favors. 

When I saw that Samurai Reincarnation would be playing at the Trylon I resolved to give it another shot hoping that a theatrical experience and realistic expectations would allow me to appreciate it better. I think I was right. It's still surprisingly languid in its pacing and while the details - mountains of corpses, demonic samurai, crucifixions, amazing actors - would lead you to think this is a total genre banger, the execution still feels more weird than thrilling. Having said that, I can appreciate the vibes which vary from oddball Shaw Bros. horror tales to something approximating a Fulci film. Lots of fog, impending dread, rubber band bass lines in a proggy soundtrack almost feel like something akin to The Beyond. However, Fukusaku's dalliance with the supernatural never seems to kick it into that gear which would make this a stone cold classic. IMDB rumor says this was meant to be a Hideo Goshi movie which maybe accounts for some of the disconnect. Certainly worth a visit and I'm glad I made time for a rewatch.

The Beast (2023) - Last year for MSPIFF, I attended so many movies that I wrote multiple posts dedicated to everything I saw at the festival. This year, I couldn't even get a response to my request for a press pass so that (combined with travel plans) meant I only caught a single film. Still, I'm happy to have come out for Bertrand Bonello's The Beast.  Very loosely based on a Henry James novella and then morphing that into a time warping, sci-fi rumination on existential dread featuring the masterful Lea Seydoux. I've been reading some lukewarm to positive reviews on this one, but I have to say that I was sucked into it. It's certainly sprawling and doesn't resolve neatly but the sheer anxiety channeled in this had me in its grip. The broad strokes of the themes have been exhaustively addressed - our humanity and our reality are being stripped away by modern circumstances. Films about this were being made a hundred years ago but The Beast feels no less poignant for it. Bonello's interpretation harvests uncertainty about AI, virtual reality, the pandemic, environmental collapse, superficiality, cultural stagnation, and our inability to connect and by weaving all of these uncertainties together manages to approximate the titular beast that haunts the edges of our psyches and lives in the pits of our stomachs. There are some very good scenes (including one that gave me legitimate chills - a rarity that I have to celebrate) and no terrible ones. I'll be giving this another watch for sure.

Bugged (1996) - Watched this as part of the Blood Brunch series at the Spectacle in Williamsburg. I have some real hesitancy around Troma in the mid/late 90s so I'm not sure when I would have gotten around to this had it not been a mystery screening. I found this relentlessly charming - the budget limitations are clear, the story is hardly groundbreaking, but the performances are earnest, there's some terrific shot ingenuity, and some of the cartoon-ish violence really lands. This was a particularly good movie to watch with an audience who laughed because the movie is pretty damn funny and not for performative irony. The Spectacle appears to have some fantastic programming - check them out if you're in the area.

Elevator to the Gallows (1958) - Caught this at The Metrograph in Chinatown. I hadn't been to the Metrograph for a long time and was happy they were showing one of my favorites. Gallows works so beautifully on the big screen and it was such a joy to lose myself in the rainy streets of Paris with Miles' incomparable score and Jeanne Moreau looking about as hopeless as anyone ever has. Extra points, as always, for a Lino Ventura appearance. 

From Beyond (1986) - Watched on 35mm at the Prospect Park Nitehawk Cinema. I have always loved From Beyond and seeing it on a big screen with Q&A from screenwriter Dennis Paoli was such a treat. So much goo, so much purple, so many of the great hands behind 80s practical effects contributing to this one. Whether you find it repellent or liberating, I love how Stuart Gordon, Paoli, and Brian Yuzna take Lovecraft's inherent squeamishness about the sexual and make it the glaring, neon purple text of the piece. Paoli had a brief slideshow that featured some production artwork from Gordon and I had no idea he was such an accomplished draftsman. Early on in my life, I had a fleeting dalliance with art school and I was always blown away by the artists trained in commercial illustration in the previous decades. Also, the Nitehawk and the Brooklyn Horror Society did a great job with this screening so hats off to em'

 

Best New-to-Me: March 2024

 March is always a little chaotic. I think the weather here has something to do with that - we started with some of the warmest days on record and finished with blizzards. Perhaps it was in response to that turbulence that I did some re-watching over the past month. Amongst other things, I revisited The Godfather parts 1 & 2, some later chapters of Lone Wolf and Cub, both Lady Snowblood films, and a series of high profile 90s crime flicks: Lone Star, Pulp Fiction, Bad Lieutenant and Cop Land. Rewatches are at odds with my drive to see more movies and find new and exciting titles. I don't watch five movies a day and I don't multi-task while watching movies so there's forever some opportunity cost with what I choose to put on. It's always worth reminding myself that this is ultimately a leisure time pursuit though the lists, writing drafts, and even spreadsheets I have put together might lead normal people to think otherwise. Sometimes you just need to revisit an old favorite or even refresh why you remember something a certain way. Despite my wallowing in nostalgia, I still found ample opportunity to watch new films and here are my favorites from March:

Deadly Circuit (1983) - The first Claude Miller film I watched was The Inquisitor where he worked with Bruno Nuytten who also shot Possession that same year. In his following film, Deadly Circuit, Miller works with Isabelle Adjani herself as an irresistible, mercurial, and lethal femme fatale in a genuinely weird take on the neo-noir/thriller. It's a gorgeous film filled with gnarly violence and (I think) absurdist black humor in a very French mode. Michel Serrault gives an excellent performance as a PI obsessed with Adjani's beautiful murderess, but I'm not sure how much sense any of it makes. I loved it, but I can see it failing to land with some people. If extensive European location footage, Adjani rocking an insane amount of amazing 80s looks, and rich dopes getting the living shit killed out of them seems sufficient for you, I would look into this one immediately.

Yakuza Graveyard (1976) - I watched a fair amount of yakuza films last month and Yakuza Graveyard is not the best of them or even the best Fukusaku film I watched, but it's still incredibly solid. It's predictably grim and chaotic but also features some nice character touches and Meiko Kaji so definitely worth a look if you like these films.

Crazy Joe (1974) - A movie that should probably be better known than it is. In the wake of success following both The Godfather films and John G. Avildsen's Joe, Dino De Laurentiis produced this mafia story starring Peter Boyle as the titular "Crazy Joe" Gallo. Boyle channels his very best Jimmy Cagney for the duration and he's flanked by an insane cast including Fred Williamson, Paula Prentiss, Rip Torn, and Henry Winkler. Much like De Laurentiis' earlier not-quite-Godfather effort, The Valachi Papers, Crazy Joe is not a revelation of cinematic technique but it's still a terrific lower budget, gritty crime story. It makes me wish there had been a lot more of these Italian/American co-productions

The Unknown (1927) - I picked up Criterion's Tod Browning set in their flash sale and finally watched both The Unknown and The Mystic in addition to Freaks. The set itself is fantastic with some great essays and features that really do help contextualize the films. Despite having some favorites and some films that were highly influential for me, I'm not the most dedicated silent film watcher. However, I've wanted to watch The Unknown for a long time now and I'm happy to say it doesn't disappoint. Lon Chaney's performance is just a marvel - the expressiveness he employs doesn't really work in a modern film milieu but it's so powerful in the silent era. Joan Crawford commands the screen in nearly everything I've seen her in and this is no exception, she looks absolutely stunning as well. I don't want to give away any spoilers but The Unknown starts in the relatively strange territory of a love triangle (of sorts) between an armless knife thrower, a dazzling gypsy girl, and a circus strongman and it gets weirder from there. Secrets, schemes, and black market surgery follows! I also loved The Mystic which starts stronger than it ends but is satisfyingly bizarre and offers a riff on Nightmare Alley decades before the book or the first film were released.

Attention, the Kids are Watching (1978) - An interesting take on the creepy/killer kids movie. Alain Delon is mostly secondary to the group of affluent children largely left to their own devices during a summer holiday. There's no doubt we are supposed to understand the kids as corrupted by modern society - absentee parents, junk food, popular culture (including Sege Leroy's previous films which get some small cameos). However, Delon's criminal drifter is also the antagonist that the kids rally against. Leroy's "thriller" manages a weird vibe but I found it compelling nonetheless. I don't think Leroy is particularly well known in the US and I'm definitely curious to check out more of his films.

Legitimate Violence (1982) - Speaking of more Serge Leroy films - I (understandably) thought this would play out like a French Death Wish after reading the synopsis. Instead, I found something much more nuanced in its depiction of violence, justice, and failed systems. Violence ties together a few threads but the main thrust of the story is Claude Brasseur as an aggrieved man who's family is slaughtered in heist gone wrong. His pursuit of justice drives things forward but there are detours into right-wing politics, police corruption, the 80s nightclub scene, as well as more straightforward thriller beats. There's little glorification of vigilantism in Leroy's film and easy answers aren't being offered. Brasseur's character is desperate for justice but doesn't readily accept vengeance as an alternative, the justice system isn't overburdened with bureaucracy as much as it's rotten at its heart, and the public is depicted either as a violent mob or innocents caught in the mayhem. It's an interesting film and a counterbalance to American and Italian films that cover similar territory. I'd love to see this get a physical media release stateside.

Street Mobster (1972) - Along with Sympathy for the Underdog, Fukusaku offers a preview of his breakneck yakuza nihilism that would erupt into the seminal Yakuza Papers series. Street Mobster features Battles' Bunta Sugawara as an utterly irredeemable street tough who still manages to exude a combustible magnetism that's hard to deny. Mobster is an unrelenting salvo of chaos and violence (sexual and otherwise) delivered with vertigo inducing handheld camerawork. The audience is hurtled down alleyways and cramped urban interiors while being subjected to street brawls as if a participant. It is impossible to empathize with these violent psychos but their tragic self-destruction makes for a thrilling ride.

Exterior Night (1980) - I'll be the first to admit that this wandering story of young, aimless people following their impulses didn't fully hold my attention for the duration. I could still appreciate the approach that I think Jacques Bral was going for. It's an atmospheric, moody piece where the drama comes in from the margins. The important aspect is to exist in the twilight spaces, these city streets, these dark corridors of Paris and maybe of our own minds. I would see this theatrically in a heartbeat. Christine Boisson has a tremendous screen presence here and her character is the most interesting of the three principals. I've seen a few films with Boisson but she never made quite this impression on me and I'm very much looking forward to seeing her in Rue Barbare coming out from FCE later this year.

The Great Okinawa Yakuza War (1976) - The 70s Yakuza genre is filled with so many ferocious films that it's impossible for me to rank them according to hardboiled grit. However, if I was to make the attempt - The Great Okinawa Yakuza War would rate towards the top. Absolute ripper of bloody action and meanspirited violence couched against a fascinating backdrop of Okinawan cultural identity. Sonny Chiba is both charmingly outrageous and terrifyingly brutal. Hiroki Matsukata provides a grounded counterbalance of a man who has learned patience but still has his limits. The island setting, the sweltering heat, and the push/pull between the local gangs and outside forces (primarily mainland yakuza but the specter of US occupation looms over everything as well) dials up the pressure until it finally erupts in the finale of chaos. The ultraviolent gore is wild but somehow Okinawa Yakuza War never feels like a living comic book the way some hyper-stylized entries into the genre do. This needs a blu-ray, immediately.

A Murder Is a Murder (1972) - An absolutely tremendous cast in an entertaining mystery/thriller. It's hard not to throw around words like "Chabrol-ian" considering the films set up - possible murder, upper-class intrigue, provincial setting, and the master himself even turns up as a bumbling train car attendant. The premise unfolds in interesting ways but the ending lands weirdly and is lacking the sharp societal critique Chabrol likely would have delivered with similar material. Still totally worthwhile to see some doppelganger strangeness from Stephane Audrane and a cool Michel Serrault turn as the local police commissioner.

The Sunday Woman (1975) - This is a long time watchlist denizen that I finally made time for. Luigi Comencini's whodunit is a breezy affair that borders on slight. However, the killer cast - Marcello Mastroianni, Jacqueline Bisset, Jean-Louis Trintignant - gorgeous footage of Turin, and Ennio Morricone score do a lot to elevate this. Besides being totally entertaining, there a far more stone phalluses in Sunday Woman than I would have guessed going into it. There's a homosexual relationship featured prominently in the plot and while it has some major issues seen within a modern lens, it's handled pretty well for 1975 (which still seems startlingly progressive considering the 80s backsliding that would happen on that front).

Starting Over (1979) - There are more than a few reviews describing how middling this Alan J. Pakula/James L. Brooks romantic comedy is and I'm willing to concede that it's an imperfect film. However (and maybe a month filled with shootouts and street brawls softened me up a bit) I found Starting Over to be a cool discovery and one that should be in front of more eyeballs. For better or for worse, the film focuses on Burt Reynolds, newly divorced from Candice Bergen, trying to manage his broken heart and his loneliness which leads to him kindling a relationship with Jill Clayburgh's pre-school teacher, Marilyn. I actually thought Reynolds was knocking it out of the park for the first two thirds of the film - wounded, guarded, and believably confused culminating in a marvelous panic attack scene in Bloomingdales. Unfortunately, as the drama intensifies, Reynolds clings to a kind of detachment that really ought to be shed as his character supposedly opens up. Clayburgh is predictably wonderful playing the kind of smart, funny character that she had so expertly nailed in An Unmarried Woman the year before. Marilyn does get emotionally knocked around a bit but she also asserts her independence and accounts well for herself and her needs. I'm no stranger to the comedic gifts of Candice Bergen but she absolutely floored me in this and is easily the most inspired bit of casting. Charles Durning and Francis Sternhagen also provide some stellar supporting roles. Easy recommendation if you go for this brand of late 70s/early 80s funny/sad story featuring bad weather and lots of earth tones.

Theatrical Screenings!

We All Loved Each Other So Much (1974) - I have been trying to watch Scola's C'eravamo tanto amati/We All Loved Each Other So Much for a few years now so I was absolutely ecstatic that it was going to be screened as part of our local Italian Film Festival. I'm not entirely sure how if first came upon my radar but it might have come down to looking through Stefania Sandrelli's filmography and the striking poster graphic drawing me in. It's supposedly extremely influential in Italy and it's an overwhelming marriage of popular entertainment with some genuine artistic chops. An expansive story of friendship between three men and one woman (who they all wind up loving in some fashion) during the thirty years following the end of WWII. C'eravamo tanto amati is ostensibly a comedy and an extremely funny one but the overarching themes are those of loss, melancholy, and even betrayal. The friends betray each other, they betray their families, and they betray their ideals - intellectualism fails, the bravest of them becomes a corrupt capitalist, and leftist reform politics do little to change the circumstances of working people. It's also a film obsessed with postwar film - De Sica, Fellini, Antonioni, and Rosselini all get their due and there are some excellent cameos throughout the picture.

For whatever reason I didn't realize this until after having seen the film (not mad that my first time was in a theater) but this is available on Cave of Forgotten Films under the Italian title and I recommend you check it out.

Dune: Part Two (2024) - I found this to be fairly entertaining even if I was left with many questions regarding the logistics of sandworm travel. I don't hate Villeneuve's Dune films but I don't think they're masterpieces either. I'm also not particularly territorial about Hebert's works. I loved the first few books when I was a kid, I have an outsized affection for Lynch's imperfectly baroque vision of the story, and I am especially fond of the old board game from 1979. I preferred Part Two to the previous film and no doubt will go see a third movie if it happens. I do wish these were a little weirder but otherwise I'm happy to sit in my fancy reclining theater chair and let it wash over me.

Perfect Days (2023) - No holds barred absolute love for Wim Wenders' new narrative film. Odes to a simpler life are not inherently profound but this one did resonate strongly with me. Shot in a mere 16 days (!), Wenders delivers a striking, poetic look at urban life in Tokyo and Koji Yakusho provides a beautifully subtle performance as a man who has built a life of intricate daily rituals. We come to understand Koji's character both through those rituals as well as his incidental interactions with the other lives he briefly coincides with. The musical choices can feel a little obvious at times, but I like them so I can hardly complain. Weirdly, Wenders' film was initially conceived as promotional material for the Tokyo Toilet project and it both works in that respect, but isn't less impactful for it. Any Americans watching this will be reduced to tears as they recall the last public toilet they were subjected to (if they could even find one).

Loves Lies Bleeding (2024) - I couldn't have been more hyped going into this one - new sexy crime/neo-noir thriller in a desert setting with an LGBTQ+ focus - and left a little deflated. I thought it looked and sounded great and I very much appreciated some dark humor and pervasive grossness. I just wish the writing had been a bit stronger and I had a hard time coming along as the film dipped into pure fantasy territory. Kristen Stewart continues to be a supremely compelling performer who seems to have fantastic instincts, and I was also impressed with Katy O'Brian who I hope gets to do more dark genre stuff. I would easily watch another half-dozen of these without complaint but I wish it would have either gone completely gonzo or stayed grounded.

Immaculate (2024) - My bummer parade continues undaunted as I found this newly beloved partial nod to Italian horror to be pretty okay. Again, the writing was a weak element here but I also didn't think Immaculate was particularly interesting from an aesthetic standpoint either. I found a lot of it to be murky and then bolstered by the kind of dull drone shots and jump scares that permeate everything these days. I commend the filmmakers for resisting the urge to add an A24 inverted camera zoom. I am not super familiar with Sydney Sweeney's work but I though she was very good here and her face is made for emotionally gut-wrenching performances. I also dug the practical gore and particularly enjoyed when my row of companions unanimously chortled as blood sprayed out of some unlucky neck while the rest of the theater stayed silent. I love the horror fans out there, but I do need to take their unbridled enthusiasm with a grain of salt sometimes. 

Best New-to-Me: February 2024

 The shortest month of the year is in the books and I feel like I'm chugging along fairly well in the movie-watching department. Lots of screenings, some solid physical media pick-ups, and plenty I'm curious about for the near future. I've been impressed with the enthusiasm around both screenings locally and boutique label releases. It feels very much that despite the apocalyptic things being written about the death of the movies not too long ago, there's a real vital interest around quality cinema. Quality is virtually impossible to define but for purposes of this blog we'll say that it appears that people are turning out for art films, rep. screenings, and independent works. I was just at a nearly sold out screening yesterday at 11am for a 50 year old Italian film that almost none of us had seen before. Further down in this column, I'll mention the fully sold out screening of Daisies I went to on a Friday night. Movie fans will always be subject in some ways to the whims of massive, frequently idiotic media conglomerates but at least locally it seems if you give folks something worth seeing, they will show up for it.

We Still Kill the Old Way (1967) - Solid mystery/conspiracy thriller that I thought was going to be more of a crime film. Regardless, I found my self drawn in fairly early by a genuinely compelling plot bolstered by solid performances from Gian Maria Volonte and Irene Papas. I did find my attention failing me at some point but for whatever reason, I often struggle to settle in with Petri's films. Still well worth seeking out and I hope to revisit on a less crap-tacular scan one of these days.

French Postcards (1979) - Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz undoubtedly had a strange trajectory in the film industry. Starting with the utterly beguiling Messiah of Evil and ending roughly with the largely maligned Howard the Duck - somewhere in the middle they had several wildly successful collaborations with George Lucas and also made French Postcards. Released in '79 and loosely based on Huyck's and Katz' own experiences traveling and studying in Europe (though not a nostalgia piece) - French Postcards is adjacent to what I recognize as a sex comedy but perhaps better defined as a coming of age ensemble film? Its multiple characters and diverging storylines don't flow elegantly, but I found everyone so damned charming that I didn't mind a bit. It's very sweet but not cloyingly so and it's occasionally very silly, nearly absurdist. There's a somewhat inexplicable scene where they are all putting on a play (never previously mentioned in the film) and I found myself actually rolling it was so weird.  The young actors account well for themselves and remain believably natural even when things get goofy. It's also shot virtually all on location in Paris in the 70s which doesn't hurt a bit. I can see a people writing this off as slight (and they could be right) but I'd say it's well worth your time if 70s-80s funny/sweet/sad ensemble pieces with some European influences speak to you.

El Crack (1981) - Solid, frequently sentimental spin on a film noir detective story. I enjoyed this and I thought Alfredo Landa's performance was particularly excellent. There's a kind of domestic melodrama story that probably does deliver the emotional underpinning for the heavier stuff, but I did find myself disengaging. The mystery is no surprise for any fan of the genre but there are a few violent jolts that sucked me back in. I wish this was boiled a little harder but I'm still glad I managed to check it out. The opening sequence (arguably my favorite scene) was clearly influential on a certain 90s crime classic.

Cops vs. Thugs (1975) - An excellent distillation of Kinji Fukasaku's crime oeuvre - corruption, honor codes, historical precedent, and institutional pessimism set against a compelling noir yarn. Cops vs. Thugs is in many ways a precursor to heroic bloodshed and a variety of American gangster pictures but it keeps things fully grounded in a believably gritty setting. There are some striking moments of violence and action but without the operatic excess of many films exploring similar themes. Fukasaku's crime world feels very lived in to me and not romanticized one bit.

Yokohama BJ Blues (1981) -  I can probably just go ahead and say that this was my favorite discovery of the month and it will undoubtedly make my end-of-year list. Truly impressive Japanese spin on the shaggy dog detective story that feels very much in conversation with 70s downer, hangout reinvention of the private dick genre. A double bill with something like The Long Goodbye would make perfect sense to me. Unlike those 70s classics, Yokohama has a visual appeal not dissimilar to the hyper-cool 80s noirs that were also beginning to make their ascent.  In contrast to nearly all of its predecessors and contemporaries,  Yokohama BJ Blues takes a pronounced  interest in gay characters. Some of this queer text seems rooted in traditionally iffy pulp fiction tropes but some of it is incredibly tender and ambiguous in a really lovely way. Yokohama lends itself beautifully as a film noir setting and while I'll never stop loving New York or Paris, it's always cool to see a city you haven't watched 100s of times before.  Yusaku Matsuda's BJ is a musician in addition to being a private eye and I thought the musical elements were integrated well and certainly gave him something interesting to work with outside of his typically tough characters.  I'd love to see a nice physical edition of this and I'm dying to know more about where it came from and how it fits into the bigger picture of Japanese crime films. 

Violent Streets (1974) - Propulsive, kinetic, entertaining milieu of nightclubs, city streets, sex, and violence. The action leans into cartoonish excess at times and the plot gets convoluted to the point that I didn't always understand who was working for who and for what reasons. However, the important thing for Violent Streets is that it's cinematic as hell. Absolutely stunning action set pieces set everywhere from a chicken coop to a black tie gala. I'd love to know more about Madame Joy who only had a couple of screen credits to her name but manages some chilling Meiko Kaji vibes while operating under your standard "cross-dressing psychopath" character type. Noboru Ando and Bunta Sugawara are predictably excellent in this as well. Hideo Gosha is an undisputed master of samurai film but this makes me wish he had done more modern films.

Police (1985) - Cerebral, claustrophobic at times, and ultimately pessimistic. Police is certainly rooted in a realistic police/criminal milieu but being a Maurice Pialat movie, it's driven largely by conversation and performance. It's wonderfully written and the cast is excellent, it's possibly my favorite Sophie Marceau performance. While it's always nice to see Sandrine Bonnaire, I do wish she had been given something featuring more of the emotional texture the other actors are exploring. The other Pialat films I've seen work their way to this emotional explosivity and Police instead feels far more resigned. Depardieu is both incredible and disturbing as his character's casual (creepily affable) misogyny appears to mirror his own. It doesn't make him less compelling but adds some grossness to everything. Police is very plotty and chatty so I would not go into this after a long day unless your French comprehension is better than mine.  I'm glad I picked up a copy as I think I'll revisit this with a fresher mind and my expectations leveled.

The Game Trilogy - After watching Yokohama BJ Blues I felt compelled to finally check out Matsuda's collaboration with Toru Murakawa that truly made their careers early on. I picked up the set from Arrow and watched them back to back so it's easier for me to discuss them all in the same entry. I was curious about these films when they were first released on disc but I kept reading that Matsuda's character is so despicable - especially towards women - that it's hard to engage with the narrative. I find the way that Japanese entertainment handles sexual violence really difficult sometimes and it is enough to put me off of something. However, and this is no way an attempt to hand wave anything away, when I finally watched The Most Dangerous Game the most obviously objectionable scene wasn't nearly as exploitative or brutal as I've seen in many other Japanese films and honestly in hardboiled cinema across the globe. I think context is useful here and while Matsuda's characterization of the assassin Narumi did become a symbol for masculine coolness at the time - I don't find his character to be very cool at all. He is objectively terrible at life - degenerate gambler, lives in (under?) a bowling alley, has a goofy bumpkin quality to him (as evidenced by some clothing choices), and is largely incapable of maintaining human relationships. This is what makes him interesting (even if he is repellent) as he is also objectively amazing as a hitman. Delon's Jef Costello was unattached ostensibly due to a kind of zen discipline he approached his work with, Matsuda's Narumi is unattached because he's a disaster of a human being - unless he has a gun in his hands.

Aside from all of this, Murakawa delivers some satisfyingly tough, stylish crime pictures. There's some outstanding location work and a electric, hand-held feel to many of the sequences. He worked with one of my favorites, Yuji Ohno, for a lively 70s jazz/funk score. The first film is probably my favorite of the three but The Execution Game is also tremendously realized. The screenwriter deliberately took inspiration from Le Samourai and the result feels much more Melville-ian than the previous entries. It's extremely cool but I do find myself longing for the grit and rangy weirdness of the first film. The Killing Game is the weakest entry for me, injecting the film with some broader comedy just wasn't a welcome addition. 

Theatrical Screenings!

Chronicles of a Wandering Saint (2023) - This was a sweet movie and I think it definitely has an audience. I am just not part of that audience. Even at a lean 84 minutes I was ready for this to wrap.

American Fiction (2023) -  The movie is largely about how Black stories are forced to pander to white audiences and it was hard to sit in a mostly white (affluent, NPR, artsy) crowd and not feel that we were, in fact, being pandered to. This has such a great cast and honestly the characters are compelling in their own right. I only wished I was spending time with them in a movie I liked better. 

Past Lives (2023) - A rewatch for me and still one of my favorites from last year. The performances are still totally charming, the music is perfection, and the 35mm photography remains gorgeous. I was able to think a lot more about the shot choice and the framing of people in space as their physical and emotional closeness expand and contract throughout the film.

Cemetery Man (1994) - There's no coherent, impartial review I can give to a film like Cemetery Man. I watched it probably dozens of times on tape in my teens and 20s and I believe I pre-ordered the dvd when Anchor Bay put it out. I'm very glad that it's been restored and re-released and that it's much more widely available again. I went to see it theatrically for (I think) the first time and mostly enjoyed it (the experience was unfortunately marred by a technical glitch early on) but also wondered if maybe I've put in my time with this one already. It's still wonderfully insane and I would recommend it to anyone interested. Personally, this might be more of an occasional 5-10 year revisit.

May December (2023) - Another rewatch that my wife wanted to catch up to. I'd say this rewards revisiting. The tone is managed masterfully and I was able to check in much more fully with Charles Melton's performance this time around. I will remain a Michel Legrande musical stab super-fan forever.

Bye Bye Tiberias (2023) - There are some extremely moving, intimate, beautiful sequences in this documentary about a family and both forced and chosen Palestinian diaspora. I wouldn't say it's the strongest documentary on a strictly formal basis but I was certainly affected by it.

Daisies (1966) - Seeing this with a sold out, boisterous crowd on a Friday night was maybe the best way to experience the madcap antics that make up its 76 minute runtime. Such a treat to see it on 35mm as well. This screening was adjacent to an exhibition on avant-garde art in Eastern Bloc nations from the 60s to the 80s. I'd visited the art show a couple of times which gave some nice context as I'm not particularly well versed in Czech New Wave cinema.

2024 Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films - Animation - My wife and I have been going to the animated shorts program nearly every year we've been able to for over a decade. The quality is always variable but I generally come away with one or two really memorable films whether they were actually nominated or just part of their "highly commended" segment. This year I thought the nominees were fine to offensively bad. However, I thought one of the commended choices, Wild Summon, was absolutely wonderful. Weird with a strong message and one to look out for if it shows up on Vimeo or something out there.

The Prisoner (1955) - This was a member screening for the Cult Film Collective on a super rare 16mm print. Strong performances from Alec Guinness and Jack Hawkins do a lot to elevate material that might have been better suited to a 60 minute teleplay rather than a feature. Glad to have been given a chance to see it in such unique circumstances, though.

La Chimera - This is one of the last 2023 movies that I've just been dying to catch. I'm certainly a Rohrwacher fan and I thought the set up for Chimera sounded intriguing. There's a lot to admire here and certainly some themes to mull over and perhaps revisit. It's a lovely looking film, the characters are fun and charismatic, and this delivers some Rohrwach-ian fantasy elements as well. What I keep thinking about and the thing that ultimately won me over the most on my first viewing is how playfully this is rendered. There's some genuine silliness and anarchy that reminded me in parts of French New Wave, other parts Fellini, and even Emir Kusturica at times. The sold out crowd I attended with was largely inert but I found this a quite funny movie though it does find itself in more thoughtful and melancholic territory towards the finale. Notably, this was the opening film of the local Italian Film Festival and the organizers hosted an aperitivo beforehand. Cinema aperitivo should be a thing. I'd take small plates and a couple glasses of wine before a movie over a collectible popcorn tub any day.